Why the IRS scandal started at the top

Was the White House involved in the IRS's targeting of conservatives? No investigation needed to answer that one. Of course it was.

President Obama and Co. are in full deniability mode, noting that the IRS is an "independent" agency and that they knew nothing about its abuse. The media and Congress are sleuthing for some hint that Mr. Obama picked up the phone and sicced the tax dogs on his enemies.

But that's not how things work in post-Watergate Washington. Mr. Obama didn't need to pick up the phone. All he needed to do was exactly what he did do, in full view, for three years: Publicly suggest that conservative political groups were engaged in nefarious deeds; publicly call out by name political opponents whom he'd like to see harassed; and publicly have his party pressure the IRS to take action.

Mr. Obama now professes shock and outrage that bureaucrats at the IRS did exactly what the president of the United States said was the right and honorable thing to do. "He put a target on our backs, and he's now going to blame the people who are shooting at us?" asks Idaho businessman and longtime Republican donor Frank VanderSloot.

I'm not sure that the guy who threatens political opponents with lawsuits as a means of squashing opposition, or who purchases a full-page, front-page ad in order to out a reporter because he did not like the guy's stories about cover-ups of child abuse in the scouts, is a person who is going to generate a whole lot of sympathy over charges of being targeted. Further, I would hope that the IRS is auditing every year anyone with a net worth over a billion dollars. You can be reasonably sure that they are using every loophole in the code. Might as well confirm that they are doing so properly.

I'm not sure that the guy who threatens political opponents with lawsuits as a means of squashing opposition, or who purchases a full-page, front-page ad in order to out a reporter because he did not like the guy's stories about cover-ups of child abuse in the scouts, is a person who is going to generate a whole lot of sympathy over charges of being targeted. Further, I would hope that the IRS is auditing every year anyone with a net worth over a billion dollars. You can be reasonably sure that they are using every loophole in the code. Might as well confirm that they are doing so properly.

sympathy is not what is needed, but it does show the basic philosophy most people have...as long as the IRS is doing it to people we don't like, let them go. The Libs on here could not be happier that the IRS did what they did.

what is needed is the idea that those in power should not use the Fed Govt to attack their political enemies.

Even the AP story has the same motivation behind it. the AP runs a story (after holding it for a week at the request of the White House) that embarrasses Obama because it contradicts the official talking points. So what we get is what we are now dealing with, members of the press targeted for daring to stand up and tell the truth.

If Obama didn't have direct knowledge he still allowed an environment where such actions were accepted to exist around him.

James C. Goodale, the so-called “father of reporters’ privilege” and the author of a new book called Fighting for the Press

“Nixon and Agnew were like listening to a Fox News program all day long, every day,” he said. “In their eyes, the Eastern establishment press were against them and they were against it and they were going to destroy it as best they can.” But, he said, “Obama has all these things that he’s done to the press on national security matters that Nixon never did.”

James C. Goodale, the so-called “father of reporters’ privilege” and the author of a new book called Fighting for the Press

“Nixon and Agnew were like listening to a Fox News program all day long, every day,” he said. “In their eyes, the Eastern establishment press were against them and they were against it and they were going to destroy it as best they can.” But, he said, “Obama has all these things that he’s done to the press on national security matters that Nixon never did.”

No problem or disagreement with Goodale's general points. Stating that Obama is worse that Nixon and Agnew is overstating silliness, but I agree with him on the need to protect the press.

That said, as offensive as the warrants on the AP are, and as much as it appears an abuse of power, the other point would be that no one has actually identified anything criminally wrong with the actions. Unlike the state of the law in 1970, it seems the AP warrants are legal.

I'm not sure that the guy who threatens political opponents with lawsuits as a means of squashing opposition, or who purchases a full-page, front-page ad in order to out a reporter because he did not like the guy's stories about cover-ups of child abuse in the scouts, is a person who is going to generate a whole lot of sympathy over charges of being targeted. Further, I would hope that the IRS is auditing every year anyone with a net worth over a billion dollars. You can be reasonably sure that they are using every loophole in the code. Might as well confirm that they are doing so properly.

No problem or disagreement with Goodale's general points. Stating that Obama is worse that Nixon and Agnew is overstating silliness, but I agree with him on the need to protect the press.

That said, as offensive as the warrants on the AP are, and as much as it appears an abuse of power, the other point would be that no one has actually identified anything criminally wrong with the actions. Unlike the state of the law in 1970, it seems the AP warrants are legal.

That last paragraph should bother everyone, but it wont. Hyper partisanship will not allow most of those on the left to see any problem with this at all just as they have no issues with what the IRS did.

I'm not sure that the guy who threatens political opponents with lawsuits as a means of squashing opposition, or who purchases a full-page, front-page ad in order to out a reporter because he did not like the guy's stories about cover-ups of child abuse in the scouts, is a person who is going to generate a whole lot of sympathy over charges of being targeted. Further, I would hope that the IRS is auditing every year anyone with a net worth over a billion dollars. You can be reasonably sure that they are using every loophole in the code. Might as well confirm that they are doing so properly.

sympathy is not what is needed, but it does show the basic philosophy most people have...as long as the IRS is doing it to people we don't like, let them go. The Libs on here could not be happier that the IRS did what they did.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

While the narrative of the poor overworked IRS employee makes for good talking points, the fact of the matter is that the year this started, 2010, there were less applications for tax exempt status than in 2009.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

There are three things working against the Liberals finding issue with what the IRS did.

1. Hyperpartisanship wont allow them to be negative towards this administration. Party first, country second.

2. They have shown themselves to be intolerant of any message that they do not agree with. Thus the IRS doing this falls in line with how they think.

3. They are big government proponents and as such this sort of thing falls under what the government should be doing

Actually, the Inspector General's report notes that applications were delayed and needless questions were asked of the organizations. It does not appear that any tea party-related organization was actually denied tax exempt status.

Of historical note, a gay organization's application received worse treatment in the mid-1990s, resulting in a federal law suit.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

There are three things working against the Liberals finding issue with what the IRS did.

1. Hyperpartisanship wont allow them to be negative towards this administration. Party first, country second.

2. They have shown themselves to be intolerant of any message that they do not agree with. Thus the IRS doing this falls in line with how they think.

3. They are big government proponents and as such this sort of thing falls under what the government should be doing

You're a childishly irresponsible spokesperson for the conservative point of view. A man knows his limitations. Don't speak for a group you do not even pretend to understand.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Right. And because I have to earn a living, my time for cheering on my favorite baseball team is limited, so my 1st amendment rights have been violated - the bastids!

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Right. And because I have to earn a living, my time for cheering on my favorite baseball team is limited, so my 1st amendment rights have been violated - the bastids!

Let's just say that the motive behind the IRS harassment was to try and silence critics of the Obama administration. It worked to a degree in that some of these folks couldn't do business as usual. Did you know in 2011 there were 27 progressive groups given tax exempt status and not one tea party group? Could that be a coincidence?

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Right. And because I have to earn a living, my time for cheering on my favorite baseball team is limited, so my 1st amendment rights have been violated - the bastids!

Let's just say that the motive behind the IRS harassment was to try and silence critics of the Obama administration. It worked to a degree in that some of these folks couldn't do business as usual. Did you know in 2011 there were 27 progressive groups given tax exempt status and not one tea party group? Could that be a coincidence?

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Right. And because I have to earn a living, my time for cheering on my favorite baseball team is limited, so my 1st amendment rights have been violated - the bastids!

Let's just say that the motive behind the IRS harassment was to try and silence critics of the Obama administration. It worked to a degree in that some of these folks couldn't do business as usual. Did you know in 2011 there were 27 progressive groups given tax exempt status and not one tea party group? Could that be a coincidence?

How did you identify the "progressive" groups as "progressive"?

How did you identify the "tea party" groups as "tea party"?

How many of the "progressive" groups actually met the IRS criteria - promoting social welfare as primary goal, etc?

How many of the "tea party" groups actually were political entities seeking favorable tax status to which they were not entitled?

Michael Smerconish a national conservative talking head has a good column in paper today about this--his point: it's entirely plausible this was the result of bad judgement from overworked/ under staffed IRS employees. Regardless the Republicans are going to misinform, cry, pout, insult, and prejudge as much as they can in an attempt to make our President appear corrupt. I suppose they have to do something when they aren't rolling over to big business ( such as passing laws against exposing issues in meat packing plants or protecting businesses polluting Chesapeake), protecting their special interest groups (NRA), hating on women, gays, minorities, and immigrants... and making up lies about the Benghazi CIA/State Dept emails.

If the IRS is overworked and understaffed how did they find time to send out such extensive questionnaires to conservative groups? If this was a Republican administration sending the IRS after media matters, moveon.org, the NAACP or the ACLU Democrats would be rightly outraged. Since the victims were "backward thinking uneducated" conservative groups it's fine. Everyone should be outraged about this. Using the power of the federal govt. against those you disagree with or who are critical of you is beyond unacceptable. These people had their constitutional rights violated by their govt. The right to speak out on any issue you want to. That is their first amendment right which was denied to them. Not to mention the obscene amount of money some of these people had to spend to comply with everything the IRS demanded of them. Also, many of them had to deal with the FBI, OSHA and ATF. Filthy Chicago politics at it's worst. I expect to be audited and visited by the FBI sometime after clicking submit reply.

Actually, with some of these organizations they were unable to do their regular work because of the IRS harassment. Since their work often consists of being critical of the current administration their 1st amendment rights were put on hold. Maybe not as an individual but as an organized group.

Right. And because I have to earn a living, my time for cheering on my favorite baseball team is limited, so my 1st amendment rights have been violated - the bastids!

Let's just say that the motive behind the IRS harassment was to try and silence critics of the Obama administration. It worked to a degree in that some of these folks couldn't do business as usual. Did you know in 2011 there were 27 progressive groups given tax exempt status and not one tea party group? Could that be a coincidence?

How did you identify the "progressive" groups as "progressive"?

How did you identify the "tea party" groups as "tea party"?

How many of the "progressive" groups actually met the IRS criteria - promoting social welfare as primary goal, etc?

How many of the "tea party" groups actually were political entities seeking favorable tax status to which they were not entitled?

Those numbers came out of an article in USA Today. I don't know who wrote it. It did not go in to detail about each application. Some on both sides might not have met the criteria required to be tax exempt but I doubt all conservative groups applying were found unqualified. I can't say that for sure though.

To the TOP we go! More and more evidence coming down against William Wilkins. A very skilled and well connected man. Here are a couple articles to those interested. I tried the NYT and HuffPo for a more left perspective. They haven't assigned a writer to cover it. I suppose it doesn't support their narrative so I guess who blames them.